


Happiness, Step One

by Pteropoda (SilentP)



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-12 10:41:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4476317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentP/pseuds/Pteropoda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mirage has been getting his priorities in order for the past year, and the traditions of his old home are nowhere near the top of the list.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happiness, Step One

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Gentleman's Handbook](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1614872) by [Pteropoda (SilentP)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentP/pseuds/Pteropoda). 



> I asked for prompts at the beginning of July for Camp Nano, and one of the ones I got was "Jazz planning a celebration for Hound and Mirage in GH." Thanks very much to deersu for giving me the excuse to write this! I hope it lives up to expectations.

“So when is it?” Jazz asked, leaning forward at his desk with a glint in his visor.

It was such a non-sequitur, even coming from Jazz, that Mirage paused halfway into his chair. “I beg your pardon?” he asked. “When is what?”

“Your anniversary,” Jazz said patiently, as though it were the most obvious answer in the world. He knew perfectly well what he was doing, Mirage was sure. He had that look of affected innocence to him that he adopted when he was trying to catch Mirage off-guard.

“My- with Hound, you mean?” Mirage said. Jazz nodded, and he frowned. “It’s not even been a vorn yet. Isn’t the question rather premature?”

“I’m not talking about vorns,” Jazz shook his helm. “It’s coming up on a year now, isn’t it? You thinking of doing something special, maybe asking for some time off? I need to plan ahead, but I can pull some strings,” he offered, already turning to his console to do so.

“We are doing nothing of the sort.” Mirage said, bemused. He eyed Jazz’s exaggeratedly disappointed pout with confusion. “Really, Jazz. A year is hardly any time at all, it’s nothing to celebrate. I know you would enjoy the excuse for a party, but you can come up with reason to celebrate without dragging me into it. Perhaps when a vorn comes around…” he said, then cut himself off. “But that will be a discussion to have much later, when the date is closer. Now, did you just call me here to talk about this, or did you have a mission to discuss?”

“Little of column A, little of column B,” Jazz straightened from his affected slump with a sigh. “I figured with Hound’s love of all things Earth, you two would at least be doing something.” He shrugged. “But if you’re not, I guess it’s between the two of you. Let’s get cracking on this mission, shall we?”

Mirage wanted to scoff. Of course it was between the two of them, and even if the topic hadn’t come up yet, it wasn’t up to Jazz to prompt them to have it, no matter how much he might consider himself invested in their affairs.

He was more than glad to ignore the topic in favor of diving into mission planning, and in the midst of debating targets and infiltration routes the brief conversation slipped entirely from his mind until a few days later.

Hound was the one who brought it up, fifteen minutes into their circuit around the Ark and the mountain, where they were taking advantage of the newly paved roads to let Mirage finally run his alt mode through its paces.

“Has Jazz been bugging you recently?” Hound asked. He had to put on a burst of speed to draw level with Mirage, who slowed obligingly to keep him from straining his engine.

“No more than usual,” Mirage said, but paused as memory struck. “Well, he did ask me about our anniversary, of all things, but he was counting by Earth time…” he trailed off, turning his focus on Hound. “Why? Did he come after you as well?”

“I wouldn’t say he came after me,” Hound demurred. “But he’s right, it’s been nearly a year now.”

Mirage revved his engine in irritation, and Hound pulled in closer to him. “Do you not like the human units?” he asked.

“I suppose that’s part of it,” Mirage acknowledged, brushing as close to Hound’s alt-mode as he could while driving. “It’s simply so short a time. I don’t even remember hearing of a one vorn celebration, in the Towers. All of the parties happened at seven vorns, or even later than that.”

Hound hummed thoughtfully. “Makes sense, I guess. You didn’t want to count your chicks before they hatched in the Towers, right?”

Mirage huffed fondly at Hound’s use of the Earth saying. “I suppose you could put it that way. It would be… presumptuous.”

“Well, I know it hasn’t been vorns, but we’ve come pretty far in a year, don’t you think?” Hound asked.

Mirage coasted for a few moments, considering. A year ago he had only just realized the true depths of his affection for Hound, and had only just begun to hope that it was reciprocated. A year ago he’d fallen back on obscure traditions from the Towers, instead of actually communicating with Hound, and he had shuddered to imagine their relationship being public. When he looked at it that way… “I suppose we have,” he said fondly.

“And no matter how long it’s been, I think that’s something to be happy about,” Hound said cheerfully. “Besides, just because they weren’t throwing a big party didn’t mean they weren’t celebrating with just the two of them.”

“I can hardly argue against that,” Mirage said wryly. “All right, if you want to consider a year anniversary, I suppose I can live with it. What’s one more broken tradition?”

“We don’t have to,” Hound said softly, and Mirage was sure that if they were both in their mech forms Hound would be looking at him with those incredibly earnest optics of his.

“Hound, you’re sweet, but I really don’t mind,” Mirage said. “We’re doing well, and that’s at least worth acknowledging, even if it doesn’t feel like a real anniversary.”

“I’m glad,” Hound said, then got completely sidetracked as something organic swooped by overhead. “Oh! That was a bat! Did you see, Mirage?”

The rest of their little outing continued in that same lighthearted vein, but that conversation gave Mirage plenty to think about for the next month, in the moments between mission planning and regular shifts and evenings spent with Hound. If he were honest with himself, he could hardly believe it had only been a year. Remembering those first few awkward conversations was enough to make him cringe, but it helped to highlight just how much more at ease he was with talking to Hound now. They were hardly perfect, and he couldn’t say they always saw eye to eye, but they’d managed to work through every fight so far, even if it took a while to do so. Mirage didn’t want to picture any argument that could split them up for good. It had only been a short time, but already he found it upsetting to imagine a future without Hound at his side.

Making Hound happy was more than enough reason for him to give in and at least acknowledge the anniversary, but since that night Hound hadn’t brought the topic up again. If this were Cybertron, Mirage knew what kind of celebration would be thrown, but here on Earth that was impossible, and unappealing besides.

It was a question Mirage had returned to again and again, and it occupied his thoughts now, as he sat through a shift of Sky Spy monitoring. What could he do for Hound? He could go with a gift, but that brought up thoughts of his embarrassing attempt at courtship, and was enough to make him cringe. He refused to go back to Jazz and ask for time off, even if going on a trip with Hound was appealing.

He’d nearly resigned himself to a simple evening of sharing energon when his comm buzzed.

“Mirage, you still on shift?” Hound asked.

Mirage checked his chronometer in surprise. “For a few minutes more, yes,” he answered. “Why?”

“I finished my patrol a little early. Do you think you could meet me in the rec room?” Hound asked. There was an edge of excitement to his tone that Mirage could not place, and it had him sitting up in his chair.

“Well… yes, of course,” Mirage answered, nonplussed.

“Great!” Hound said cheerfully. “See you there.” And he ended the call.

Mirage cycled his optics. That had been rather abrupt. They usually did their best not to distract one another while on duty, of course, but Hound usually lingered a bit longer than that, and he had sounded so excited this time.

Mirage waited out the last few minutes of his shift in nervous anticipation. The moment his chrononometer read the end of his shift, Mirage was up from his seat and out of the control room. He didn’t _rush_ , but he certainly didn’t linger to exchange pleasantries with the few mechs he passed on his way.

When he was finally outside of the rec room, he lingered outside for a moment to compose himself, then with a deep vent, stepped through the doors.

“HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!”

Mirage froze on the threshold.

The room had been transformed some time during his shift. The lighting had been dimmed to a comfortable glow, and someone had taken coils of wire and aluminum and twisted them together into an approximation of metal bouquets to adorn the walls with. The tables had been rearranged, and one was pulled to the side, where he could see his and Hound’s friends gathered, beaming at him-- Cliffjumper, Bumblebee, Tracks and Blaster, Trailbreaker, Beachcomber... He caught sight of Jazz standing toward the back, grinning mischievously, but before he had a chance to do anything about it, Hound was stepping forward with a sheepish smile.

“Jazz put you up to this, didn’t he?”  Mirage asked, when he finally found his voice.

“Sure did!” Jazz called from the back, laughing, and Hound nodded silently.

“I can’t believe you,” Mirage said, but he broke into laughter halfway through. “You’re all incorrigible!”

“But you don’t mind?” Hound asked. He was standing hip to hip with Mirage, and carefully wrapped an arm around his waist.

“I think I’ll survive,” Mirage smiled, and pulled Hound closer to kiss him breathless. There were whoops and cheers from the rest of the room, but Mirage waited several more seconds before finally pulling away.

“They’re going to be talking about this for days,” Hound said in a breathless whisper, but he was smiling uncontrollably, and Mirage was sure he was doing the same.

“I believe we can handle it,” Mirage said, breathless and giddy, and smiled as their friends surrounded them.


End file.
